The SOMM Journal

June / July 2017

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16 { THE SOMM JOURNAL } JUNE/JULY 2017
{
one woman's view
}
WHEN A WINEMAKER LOVES tequila, you
don't expect him to be too picky about alcohol.
But Randy Dunn is not your ordinary winemaker.
Indeed, Dunn created quite a flap a few years ago
when he vowed never to make a Cabernet over
14% alcohol. "I'm not against alcohol per se," he
explains, citing his tequila passion. "But wine should
be a beverage that goes with food. In the old days,
two people could easily polish off a bottle of wine
over dinner. I can't say that for many wines now."
The irrepressible Randy Dunn, along with his
that-apple-didn't-fall-far-from-the-tree son Mike,
did a phenomenal tasting of 11 of their Cabernets
(dating back to 1984) recently in Napa Valley.
Virtually every wine was a knock out—especially
the 1984, 1985 and 2012.
Both men have been outspoken on the issue of
high-alcohol wines and unapologetic about using
reverse osmosis to dealcoholize if they need to. "A
raisin tastes like a raisin," says Randy. The production
of high-alcohol wines has led to diminished varietal
character. It's bad for the whole industry when
wines from every place taste essentially the same."
When they need to use reverse osmosis, it's
generally to de-alcoholize about ½ a percent.
"Somms freak out, but de-alcoholizing is an elegant
solution," says Mike. Adds Randy, "Back in the '70s
and '80s, everyone in California had a water hose.
No one wanted to go over 14% alcohol because
of the extra taxes."
The Dunns, father and son, give the impression of
not giving a rat's rear end about what other people
think, and they clearly don't check in with a PR
department before they speak. Although as a kid
Mike was pressed into helping around the winery,
he didn't join his father until 1999 after giving up his
mountain and road bike shop. "I used to think White
Zin was terrific," he says. ""It was a gateway drug."
The Dunn wines are legendary for their structure
and their ability to age, but Randy doesn't have
much to say on the topic of how Howell Mountain
(where their vineyards are located) contributes to
the character of his wines. "Maybe gives them a little
earthiness," he shrugs, explaining, "We don't drink
a lot of other people's wines. We don't go to tast
-
ings. And we're bad at writing stuff down. We don't
remember what the weather was like; we always say
we won't forget a vintage, but then we do."
The Dunn Cabernets are made in what might
be thought of as the "old-fashioned" way: hand-
harvested grapes, no sorting table, no cold soak,
indigenous yeasts, vigorous pump overs, sterile
filtering, barreled for 32 months.
"Science plays a small part in great wine," says
Randy. "It's background protection. But what prob
-
ably matters more is just simple intuition."
Cabernet the
Old-Fashioned Way
by Karen MacNeil
Karen MacNeil is the
author of The Wine Bible
and the digital newsletter
WineSpeed. She can
be reached at karen@
karenmacneil.com.
PHOTO:
H.
J.
CHA
RANDY DUNN
AND HIS SON
MIKE RELY ON
SIMPLE INTUITION
TO PRODUCE
KNOCKOUT WINES